Lessons to be learned from the TV Show Hotel Impossible

Hotel Impossible is a reality TV show on Travel Channel, featuring a hospitality expert Anthony Melchiorri and his team giving professional advice and consultation to hotels. This popular show is at its 7th season already since it began airing in September 2012. Each episode is like a hotel turnaround case study. It covers one particular hotel that has severe or fatal issues that Melchiorri and his team have to solve within a week. Whether you are an owner, an employee or a user of a hotel, this show interests everyone no matter your age, gender or role.

With 20 years of professional hotel management experience, Anthony Melchiorri brought his good reputation to the screen and share his expertise with the public. Anthony faces different issues at hotels in every episode. Anthony Melchiorri’s ways of tackling the problems were key to success of this TV show. His innovative solutions and expertise brought about the popularity of “Hotel Impossible” while benefitting the viewers at the same time. Anthony’s advice can be helpful if they are facing the same situation at their own hotel or hostel business. Here are examples of lessons that Melchiorri taught in some of the episodes:

Competency of the General Manager

In 2014, Melchiorri visited the CitiGarden Hotel in San Francisco (Season 5 Episode 10). He gave small tests to the General Manager (GM) Andre to check if he knew the roles of being a GM and if he was capable of the position.

Changes of the Hotel’s Name Saves Its Reputation

During the week in San Francisco, Melchiorri got an additional help from Think Creative to rebrand the hotel by changing its name from CitiGarden Hotel to CitiGarden Park Pointe Hotel to get rid of the bad reputation. Melchiorri’s unique and professional ways of solving the issues gave the hotel a quick turnaround that satisfied the owner and also the customers’ expectations.

Importance of Customers’ Safety

Other than the work distribution among employees, customers’ safety is also one of the major pillars of managing a hotel. In Season 4 Episode 5, Melchiorri gave advice to Lida Khorsandi after she and her husband bought the Hollywood Liberty Hotel out of bankruptcy. Melchiorri found lots of loopholes left from the previous owner. Amongst all problems, the biggest issue that Melchiorri found was the customers’ safety due to the damage cause by previous fires and the lack of smoke detectors. With these loopholes, the hotel could be very risky to stay in.

Marketing of Your Hotel’s Special Features

When Melchiorri visited Anchorage Lofts Hotel (Season 7 Episode 12), he realized that the pool and the helicopter service are potential assets that could be marketed to raise the image of the hotel. Instead of using the pool as a storage, the pool can be renovated and become an attraction of the hotel. Also, the fact that nobody knows about the helicopter service that can bring the customers to the countryside above the glaciers also hinders the potential of the hotel.

Balance Spendings on Facilities

In the same episode at Anchorage Lofts Hotel, Melchiorri found out that the restaurant in the hotel does not make profit at all. There was also an excess of food materials in the restaurant. He suggested the restaurant to close down or fix the imbalance of spending.

The diversity of hotels featured in the show ensures that no matter which episode on Hotel Impossible you are viewing, you can learn something different out of it. Melchiorri’s advice and the bad examples can both be used as a reference, which can save or improve your hotel business.

Looking for advice on your San Francisco Bay Area Hotel? Thinking of Opening a Hotel or Starting a Business in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Contact us today to schedule a free consulting session to review how we may be able to help. Piedmont Avenue Consulting is a San Francisco Bay Area based business consulting firm who work with many businesses in the Hospitality Industry through out the San Francisco Bay Area and the United States. Piedmont Avenue Consulting creates brand awareness, strengthens customer loyalty, and increases lead generation through leveraging new technologies and streamlining business processes.

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David Mitroff Ph.D

David Mitroff, Ph.D. is a business consultant, marketing expert and keynote speaker who founded Piedmont Avenue Consulting, Inc. where he advises on leveraging new technology to create brand awareness, strengthen loyalty and streamline processes with proven results.

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